Review: District 9

The plot for District 9 could sound like a broad political satire: aliens, landing 20 years ago, were imprisoned in a ghetto in South Africa, suffering prejudice and segregation from the locals, who refer to them derogatively as Prawns. Now the people of Johannesburg are uprooting them from their temporary home and moving them to a quasi-concentration camp outside the city. But the evacuation goes horribly wrong. The film-makers have kept the plot as secretive as possible, which works in heightening the suspense, playing your own expectations against you.

Using South African director Neill Blomkamp's own short film Alive in Joburg (see below) as a starting point, District 9 opens with the same documentary footage of first contact, and the following unrest, before breaking off into a more familiar narrative.

For audiences outside South Africa, there are no familiar faces. In fact this studio-released, summer special effects movie has as its 'star' Sharlto Copley, who has never acted before. He plays Wikus van de Merwe, an awkward pencil-pusher (think Murray from Flight of the Conchords) thrown into a life-threatening situation. It's the most impressive debut role in memory, and merits an Oscar nomination. In fact, as the Oscar field for Best Film is now open to ten nominations, I would hope and expect District 9 to be a contender.

This is no mere heavy-handed political allegory. It is instead a stunning, hugely entertaining movie which is at once massive in scope, and also personal and touching. It's hard to believe that the aliens here don't exist outside a computer, thanks in great part to the quality of the acting. Nor do the effects take you out of the film – it's all startlingly realistic. Michael Bay, please pay attention to how alien robots can be entertaining.

In the same year that we've had Star Trek, Moon and now District 9, Avatar is going to have to be very special indeed to make an impact. Full marks.